High-speed academic networks kiss, make up, then merge

Internet2 and National LamdbaRail have agreed to merge after more than a year …

The two main US providers of high-speed networks to academic and research institutions, Internet2 and National LambdaRail, have finally agreed to merge—and they're doing so just as quickly as the connections they provide. After tussling over the details of such an agreement for more than a year, the two groups have suddenly decided to put final merger documents before their respective boards by April 20, with merger completion to take place by June 29.

Because this is to be a merger of equals, the new organization will be called (without great originality) "Internet2-National LambdaRail." While this is hardly the stuff of which branding executives dream, the name is important: it makes clear that neither of these independent-minded organizations is "more equal" than the other. The two groups recognized that it would be beneficial to merge more than a year ago, but they weren't able to make it happen.

We reported late last year on one insider's take on the merger talks, which were characterized by an "adversarial approach" that "destroyed trust among the parties and caused the group to lose its grasp of the future possibilities."

After talks broke down completely, Internet2 brought in a new chairman of the board, Jeffrey Lehman, from Cornell. Polley Ann McClure, who made the complaints above, is also a VP at Cornell, and her comments seem to have been taken to heart by Lehman. Negotiations were restarted in February, and the two groups got together once more to decide "whether circumstances have changed sufficiently over the past year that our organizations might consummate a merger."

That consummation, one devoutly wished for by many campus IT managers, was announced last week in a joint statement from both groups that repeatedly stressed their "equal" nature. The signatures of the two leaders were even listed side by side so that neither would be subordinated to the other. Details on how the merger will affect the respective high-speed networks of each group are still being worked out by a merger team, but both parties seem committed to the "aggressive schedule" that will see them completely joined by the end of June. At that time, a new CEO will also be recruited to run the new entity.